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Solomon Islands

Improving Solomon Islands media to contribute to knowledge-sharing, raising public awareness of development issues and increasing demand for better governance.

The Solomon Islands Media Assistance Scheme (SOLMAS) is funded by the Australian Government and forms part of the civilian support provided by the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI).

It works with development stakeholders to improve their ability to use the media as a communications for development tool, creating training initiatives for media staff to improve the quality of output across Solomon Islands media.

The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI)

The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Island’s role is to ensure key national institutions and functions of law, justice, public administration and economic management are effective, affordable and sustainable.

It funds initiatives, such as the Solomon Islands Media Assistance Scheme, to help implement a Communications for Development (C4D) approach to achieve these development objectives.

The Solomon Islands Media Assistance Scheme (SOLMAS)

The Solomon Islands Media Assistance Scheme (SOLMAS) assists the Solomon Island’s Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC) in upgrading their transmission infrastructure, to improve the reach and quality of Solomon Islands media in order to reach more people and fulfill its role as the country’s emergency services broadcaster.

It aims to influence behavioural change, to improve the demand for better governance and to make progress towards the Millennium Development Goals particularly in health, education and disaster risk reduction.

A phased approach

The Solomon Islands Media Assistance Scheme (SOLMAS) was coordinated in a phased approach, firstly focussed on building relationships between the broader Solomon Islands media system to gain confidence of all program stakeholders.

These strengthened relationships helped support the implementation of a range of activities, including upgrading or repairing ageing infrastructure, media training for media professionals and supporting the planning and reporting of the 2010 National Elections.

SOLMAS continues to work with all media organisations to ensure Solomon Islanders' have access to diverse media sources, further improving the knowledge, skills and professionalism of content makers. This improves governance and leadership in media communications, and included strengthening the role of the Members of the Media Association Solomon Islands (MASI) as a representative institution to facilitate greater coordination between the media and development stakeholders.

SOLMAS is working with media organisations to increase their capacity to deliver quality media content, improve their knowledge about Content Management Systems and allow future access to archive material.

Australia based team

Rob Batten, Project Director

Jessica Douglas, Project Manager

International Development

"The ABC is committed to the values of respect, collegiality, integrity and innovation.ABC International Development aspires to embody these values in Asia and the Pacific."- Domenic Friguglietti, ABC, Head Pacific and Mekong.